A highly efficient and selective synthesis of lissoclinolide

1. A highly efficient and selective synthesis of
lissoclinolide
Caiding Xu and Ei-ichi Negishi ,Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette,
Indiana 47907-1393. U.S.A.

2. lissoclinolide
An antibiotic lissoclinolide has been synthesized from propargyl
alcohol in 9 steps and in 32% overall yield via
• (i) hydrogen transfer hydrozirconation of TBS-protected propargyl alcohol with
i-BuZrCp2C1.
• (ii) Pd-catalyzed transselective cross coupling of the hydrozirconation product
with a key 1,1-dibromoalkene intermediate 5.
• (iii) Ag catalyzed lactonization ofa trienynoic acid precursor 2.
Where z= t-BuMe2Si

3. lissoclinolide
Hydrogen transfer hydrozirconation of TBS-protected propargyl alcohol at 50 °C
in benzene [1] provided 3 (>98% E) in 90% yield, while its iodinolysis gave 4 in 89%
yield. Since i-BuZrCp2C1 is readily generated in situ by treatment of commercially
available and relatively stable Cp2ZrCl2 with one equiv of t-BuMgC1, this
represents a convenient alternative to conventional hydrozirconation [2] and its
modifications using various metal hydrides [3].
(i) hydrogen transfer hydrozirconation of TBS-protected propargyl alcohol
with i BuZrCp2C1.
[1] (a) Swanson, DR, Nguyen T, Noda Y, Negishi E. J. Org. Chem. 1991; 56: 2590. (b) Makabe H, Negishi E. unpublished results.
[2] (a) Hart, DW, Schwartz J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1974; 96:8115. (b) Schwartz J, Labinger JA. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1976; 15:33.
[3] (a) Negishi E, Miller JA, Yosida T. Tetrahedron Lett. 1984; 25: 3407. (b) Buchwald SL, LaMadre S J, Nielsen RB, Watson BT, King
SM. Tetrahedron Lett. 1987; 28: 3895. (c) Lipshutz BH, Keil R, Ellsworth EL. Tetrahedron Lett. 1990; 31: 7257.

4. lissoclinolide
(ii) Pd-catalyzed transselective cross coupling of the hydrozirconation product
with a key 1,1-dibromoalkene intermediate 5.
They have recently [4] reported that the Pd-catalyzed cross coupling-lactonization
tandem process [5] based on Sonogashira coupling[6] can be optimized to give (Z) -γ-
alkylidenebutenolides in high yields, one of the key findings being the desirability of
the use of a Pd-PPh3 mixture, in which the PPh3/Pd ratio is >_4[7]
.
• [4] (a) Kotora M, Negishi E. Synthesis 1997; 121. (b) Kotora M, Negishi E. Tetrahedron Lett. 1996; 37: 9041. (c) Liu F, Negishi E.
• J. Org. Chem, 1997; 62: 8591. (d) Negishi E, Kotora M. Tetrahedron 1997; 53: 6707.
• [5] Lu X, Huang X, Ma S. Tea'ahedron 1993; 34: 5963.
• [6] Sonogashira K, Tohda Y, Hagihara N. Tetrahedron Lett. 1975; 4467.
• [7] In cases where either the PPhJPd ratio was 2 [2] or no PPh 3 was used [Lambert C, Utimoto K, Nozaki H. Tetrahedron Lett. 1984; 25: 5323], the
reaction was significantly more complicated by some side reactions, such as competitive formation of pyranones, and conjugate substitution via Heck
reaction. Even under the optimized conditions, however, homodimerization of alkynes may still be a significant side reaction [ I b, 1 c].

5. lissoclinolide
Conversion of 5 into 8 via Pd-catalyzed cross coupling was initially attempted
with the alkenylzinc derivative generated from4 via lithiation with t-BuLi (2 equiv)
and zincation with ZnBr2. To our surprise, 8 was not at all formed. The results were
puzzling, since a model experiment led to very satisfactory transselective cross
coupling, as shown in Scheme 2[8].
[8] Panek JS; Hu T. J. Org. Chem. 1997; 62: 4912.

6. lissoclinolide
(iii) Ag catalyzed lactonization ofa trienynoic acid precursor 2.
They now report that the Ag-catalyzed lactonization is significantly superior to
the Pd-catalyzed procedure in the synthesis of lissoclinolide (1) [9] from its precursor
2.
• [9 Davidson BS, Ireland CM. J. Nat. Prod. 1990; 53: 1036.